Quitting work, Miss Lonelyhearts walks across a little park to a
bar called Delehanty’s. Remembering the way Shrike always
teases and makes fun of him, Miss Lonelyhearts is quite glad to
find the speak easy almost empty, especially the fact that Shrike
is not present. But soon Shrike catches up with him and advises
him to rise out of the gloom of crucifixion, in order to revel in
the pleasures of the Renaissance. Miss Lonelyhearts notices the
deadpan technique that Shrike uses while speaking.

Miss Farkis, Shrike’s date for the evening, arrives and he starts
to speak in loud declamation, which Miss Lonelyhearts calls,
"his seduction speech."

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Notes

Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West is written in the form of
short episodes taken from the life of Miss Lonelyhearts from the
New York Post. This episode is named ‘Miss Lonelyhearts and
the Dead Pan.’ Dead pan, Miss Lonelyhearts explains is the
trick that is used by movie comedians where they make
elaborate gestures without any expressions on their face. Shrike,
according to Miss Lonelyhearts, speaks in this way. This
symbolically draws the reader’s attention to the way men lead
their lives, unfeelingly carrying out the monotonous activities of
their lives. Shrike’s meaningless existence is depicted through
his actions.

West’s remarkable skill at humor and intelligent wit is manifest
in this portion of the book, when he believes that he has only
one more stone, (perhaps standing for false hope) which was in
his guts, to give to his readers, and he looks at the sky as a
target. The sky is described as have been rubbed by a soiled
eraser. West’s comparisons are genuinely striking, especially
the one in Shrike’s declamation, where he compares "the
wounds in Christ’s body to the mouths of a miraculous purse in
which we deposit the small change of our sins."